THE LORD SPOKE (June 9)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: I Chronicles 3-4

The prayer of Jabez has gotten a lot of attention in recent years. Too much! It has spawned another "Christian" mass-marketing fad that borders on a cult. Now you can buy Jabez mugs and Jabez Bible covers at Christian bookstores all across America (where you can usually buy anything but books).

What of value can we learn from this keep-my-skin-out-of-hell prayer? Not much, unless it's how not to pray.

• "bless me" is an appropriate request, if it is so that I may be a blessing to others - not, so that my possessions will increase
• "let your hand be with me" is a godly request, if our sole desire is to do God's will and we want His blessing on that pursuit
• "keep me from harm" is a reasonable request, but nearly every case of pain in Scripture actually results in valuable lessons learned and God's greater glory

What might we observe and practice here that is positive?

• Jabez prayed - that's more than some do
• Jabez prayed to the God of Israel - that's the right, in fact, the only address
• "God granted his request"

We're not told why. Such a statement, taken at face value, would seem to indicate God's favor. And, maybe that's the way we should take it here. Jabez was a Judahite ancestor of King David and perhaps his fervent appeal was made in anticipation of God’s selection and blessing on the yet unborn house of David.

Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, help me to seek You with all my heart and to acknowledge You in all my ways. I don't want to think, or speak, or do anything apart from Your presence with me. Grant me contentment whatever my lot and inner peace whatever my momentary experience. May every detail of my life be an evidence of Your grace, known and read by all men.

New Testament: II Corinthians 11

The Devil likes to use God’s vocabulary but with his own dictionary. That’s what makes the cults so deceiving to many people. They too talk about Jesus and spiritual things but they have their own definitions of those words. Paul warns the Corinthians of “someone who comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached...a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted...” (II Cor. 11:4).

A different Jesus. If He’s anything other than fully God and fully man, He’s not the Jesus found in the Bible. If there is any deviation from His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection, something has been twisted. If His physical return - first to the clouds to receive His bride and then to the earth to establish His literal millennial kingdom - is denied, He’s not the Jesus of the Bible. If His requirement of repentance for sins and submission to His lordship over all of life is not given the same emphasis that it has in Scripture, this constitutes “preaching another Jesus”. It should be denied and those who teach such things should be opposed and not allowed to continue.

A different spirit. There’s some question as to whether this refers to the Holy Spirit or to a spirit of bondage, fear, and worldliness. Paul often writes to churches in similar words - see Romans 8:25; Galatians 2:4; 4:24; and Colossians 2:20-23 (c.f. II Tim. 2:7). The false teachers at Corinth had introduced a very different wind and the church was drifting. Paul sought to correct its course.

A different gospel. If it is not by grace alone, through faith alone, without any mixture of good works or other human effort, it is not the true gospel. Paul marveled that the Galatians could be so easily led astray (Gal. 1:6-9) in this area. Are we better? How quickly do we substitute some legalistic system for the clear teaching of Scripture. Any system of “must do’s” and “can’t do’s” whereby we seek justification is a dilution of the truth and Paul says, “let it be damned” (Gal. 1:8-9 - actually he turns this anathema on those who teach such things!).